"I fully support the decision by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to accept the sculpture commissioned by local citizens to honor all who have fallen in service to our country," Pence said Tuesday in a statement.

Department of Natural Resources Director Cameron Clark sent a letter Tuesday morning to the Union County Development Corp., saying the agency was "pleased to accept" its gift of a statute featuring a soldier standing at a cross at Whitewater Memorial State Park in Liberty.

The letter says the statue is to be permanently placed at the park and "become property of the DNR in perpetuity."

It's not immediately clear whether the Freedom From Religion Foundation will take legal action aimed at removing the statue. Rebecca S. Markert, the foundation's attorney, couldn't be reached for comment.

The Wisconsin-based atheist group last month sent a letter to Clark telling him that a cross attached to a new war veterans memorial statue has no place at the park. The park, about 80 miles east of Indianapolis, was formed in 1949 and dedicated to World War II veterans from Union, Wayne, Fayette and Franklin counties in east Central Indiana.

The 14-inch, white-painted cross is at the bottom of an 8-foot-tall wooden chainsaw-carved statue. At the top of the statue is a bald eagle perched above lettering that says, "All gave some; Some gave all." One side of the eagle's perch is an Indiana state flag. On the other side is a soldier.

"No secular purpose, no matter how sincere, will detract from the overall message that the Latin cross stands for Christianity and the overall display promotes Christianity," Markert wrote.

Markert added that the cross "will send a message that the government only cares about the deaths of Christian soldiers."

In his statement, Pence disagreed: "The freedom of religion does not require freedom from religion. The constitutions of our state and nation more than allow the placement of this Hoosier artist's sculpture on public land. So long as I am governor, I will defend the right of Hoosiers to display this sculpture in Whitewater Memorial State Park as a lasting tribute to the service and sacrifice of all who have worn the uniform of the United States."

The debate over the cross erupted earlier this summer when a Liberty man sent a letter to the DNR after he saw the statue on display at the park because he thought the cross amounted to a government-sponsored "religious shrine."

Veterans' groups and other residents donated money to pay for the carved memorial. No taxpayer funds were used for the carving, which was donated to the park.